drbillyohttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com
stuff that's too long for twitter.Sat, 11 Mar 2017 06:48:03 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngdrbillyohttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com
Starting Teacher Traininghttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/starting-teacher-training/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/starting-teacher-training/#commentsWed, 24 Jul 2013 09:07:08 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=398]]>Let’s get one thing clear. Although I feel quite bitter about having my research career curtailed, this is not a “last choice”. This is a positive life change. I’ve not waited until I no longer have a job in research, in fact I have resigned a contract with 3-years left to run. I’m taking a positive move to do something I’ve always thought I’d be quite good at and always fancied doing. With the 20-20 vision of hindsight it is something I perhaps should have done three or four years ago.

I had been pretty keen to make contact with schools and interactions with kids and the general public an integral part of my academic career. I have grabbed every chance to take part in various projects as a member of the Beacon’s for Wales, including a researcher’s in residence scheme where I did 3 visits to a school in Cwmbran to do demonstrations and practicals which gave a flavour of my research, but also tied into the A-level syllabus of the classes I was taking. Through Beacons I have also taken part in the BBC programme Bang Goes The Theory answering questions from the general public. There were a couple of other schools engagement projects that I’d have liked to have taken part in, but my line manager wasn’t so keen…Grrrr.

But my passion for teaching didn’t even start as a professional scientist. It has always been there; I chose to do my work experience week aged 15 in a local primary school. Even at that age I loved the challenge of explaining something simply to an inquisitive audience. So I’m pretty excited about the new challenges that are ahead.

I’m slightly worried that I am going into this with too many pre-conceived notions of what makes a good teacher. But I assume everyone does. Everyone has memories of one, or perhaps a few great teachers that made lessons fun and interesting and often have had such a profound effect on you that they shaped the route of your life upon leaving school. I certainly had three science teachers who inspired me to become a scientist. I hope that I can enthuse a student or two to love science. If I can inspire one student to go into scientific research then I’ll have replaced myself. If I can inspire two then science will be better off. If I can inspire hundreds over a whole career, then it’ll have all been worth it.

I can’t wait to get started.

Filed under: Public Communication, Science, Teaching, Uncategorized Tagged: public communication, Science, teacher training, teaching]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/starting-teacher-training/feed/5drbillyoLeaving Academiahttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/leaving-academia/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/leaving-academia/#commentsWed, 24 Jul 2013 09:06:43 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=396]]>A long tale of woe. This post has undergone a number of iterations in the last few weeks. It started off as an expletive-laden cathartic rant, not unlike my tirade at First Great Western. But I’ve calmed down a lot and re-written it to try not to sound bitter. Which was difficult, because I am.

I was going to title this post Leaving Science, but I could never leave science, intrinsically I am a scientist. I fucking love science. Which is why it is particularly painful to have to leave the lab bench and stop doing the thing Ilove. But I feel I have to.

I feel like I’ve been forced out of academic research science by a lack of opportunities to progress my career and become an independent researcher.

For those not in the loop, I should probably begin by explaining the career path in academia, or within life sciences at least. First you need an undergraduate degree, then you need a PhD. A PhD is effectively the start of your research career; you’re learning, but you’re learning fast and by the end of your three or four years as a PhD student you should be indistinguishable from the postdoctoral research staff in the lab. Which is handy, as this is the next step.

Being a postdoctoral researcher is a tough life. It is frowned upon a little (for no good reason) to stay in the same lab you did your PhD, so you’ll be expected to move. You’ll also be given a fixed-term three year contract – if you’re lucky – I’ve seen (and signed) far shorter contracts that that. As a postdoc your boss will have high expectations of you. That you will produce the data that will make the big publications. But you’ll probably also have to write those papers, supervise the undergrad and postgrad students, and do the ordering, cleaning and other jobs which keep the lab ticking over. For all this work you’ll be rewarded not with a tenured position, oh no. You’ll be rewarded with another fixed term contract – if you’re lucky. It’s a slightly crappy situation but everyone puts up with it, because it’s the only way you’ll ever get to be the boss.

Most postdocs would like to be the boss of their own lab. I’m aware there are some postdocs that don’t; who would like to be lab workers for other people for their entire career. However this is also very difficult and there is generally considered to be a time limit on how long you can be an academic postdoc, it’s a bloody mad situation, but not the subject of this post.

Traditionally there are two ways to become independent and to run your own lab and pursue your own ideas: i) you could get a prestigious fellowship with your salary and research funds provided by one of the research councils or a charity; or ii) you could get a lectureship with your salary paid by a university and you have to go and get your research funds from research funders and teach undergraduate students to earn your keep.

For the last two years I have been trying to become an independent scientist. I have written fellowship applications. Four of them in total. Each one a 50 page form of about 10,000 words. I mostly wrote these on my own time. In the evenings and weekends or on annual leave. The first three were all rejected, in one case without 96% of it being read by a single person and with zero feedback (thanks for totally wasting my time BBSRC). But after each application came a new iteration. With each set of feedback came useful comments to help make it better. Finally with my fourth application, I cleared the biggest hurdle. I got shortlisted by The Wellcome Trust. It was momentous, and I’m under no illusion as to how lucky I was to get to that stage. Unfortunately I wasn’t successful at the final interview stage. It’s not much consolation to me to be told I did really well to get through to the last couple of dozen in a prestigious national fellowship. If anything it hurt more than the rejections before interview, because I was so close.

“Well, I’m sure you learnt a lot for next time” said my Dad upon hearing the news. He’d be right of course, but sadly there is no next time. My time is up. For some reason these fellowships come with an “experience limit”, a maximum time you can be a postdoc for before applying. This is a bit like the postdoctoral time limit I spoke of above. But far more explicit. 6 years. If you’ve not made it by then, then they don’t want to know. So, I’ve had my chance, and it’s gone. What the point of these time limits? I have no idea, my best guess is that it is simply to limit the number of applications each time. But six years? It’s no time at all. Why would you exclude people with more experience? Especially in these days when data can often take years to appear in publications.

The other path to independence is a lectureship. I’ve applied for four of these positions too, at three different universities of various standing. In each case I wasn’t shortlisted, but in each case no-one in my peer group was shortlisted either. No other postdocs. Just established lecturers and fellows often from abroad. There’s been no-one at my own institution hired from postdoc level in the last five years either. So that’s four universities life sciences departments who haven’t hired a postdoc to be a lecturer in at least two years, if not longer.

You could say I have been unlucky to have been trying to make this transition to independence at a time when finances are tight. But there have been positions advertised. They’ve just gone to more experienced, more expensive, scientists. Universities seem unwilling to take a risk on an unproven scientist. Instead they let funding bodies take all the risks on unproven scientists and hire fellows with funding or scientists from abroad instead. Ten years ago a fellowship was a parallel to lecturer on the academic career ladder, my impression now is that fellow is the rung before lecturer.

Why is this happening? I don’t know. I’m tempted to blame the upcoming 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), a huge operation to assess the quality of research currently taking part in UK universities, the outcome of which will decide where future funds will end up, and has led universities to try and boost their REF score by buying in talent*. But there have been similar assessment exercises in the past decades and young lecturers used to be hired. And besides, I have been offered the opportunity to take part in a secondment scheme where the best postdocs were given part time positions as lecturers in order for them to be submitted to REF. However given this was not a tenure track scheme, with no research support, no opportunity to apply for independent funding, no formal teaching training and not even a pay rise, I politely declined “the opportunity”.

Is this just a case of sour grapes from someone who didn’t quite make the grade? It’s possible. Maybe I’m not good enough. In which case, I have finally got the message! I have given up trying to objectively assess the quality of my own academic output (so don’t envy those who are going to have to assess hundreds of academics during REF). I have had comments about my track record from referees including; “poor, with no outstanding publications in first position”, “very productive”, “very good pedigree”, “good but not exceptional”, “top-level scientist”, “5 first author papers in excellent journals” and my particular favourite; “the applicants CV is a weakness with only 11 papers published in 8 years”.

Whilst that final comment is the one that stands out. Just how many papers does a good postdoc have in 8 years? And I think you’ll find its 7 years. The first comment is the one which really annoys me. The two pieces of work I am most proud of during my academic career were to develop and adapt existing methodologies to novel applications in order to answer questions for someone else’s project. In each case I was third author on the paper in question. Being third author on these papers is understandable, but to have my best work overlooked because I wasn’t first author is heart-breaking. Judging someone’s research output solely on papers where they are a lead author is crazy. We do the best work as academics when we work together, with people of different expertise and different skills, but this is being discouraged by a proportion of the community who are not willing to give proper credit to collaborative working**. As the situation currently stands I would honestly advise new postdocs to think twice before helping out on other people’s projects.

My personal circumstances (a young family & elderly relatives) mean I can’t travel the country and/or world to find career progression, and why should I have to? My young family also mean I’m no longer willing to do the four-hour round-trip commute (that I’ve done for 7 years) and see out my current contract whilst blindly hoping things will change, when I have no evidence that they will. So I’m taking positive action to change my life. I’ve handed in my notice and am moving to a career where my skills in communication and enthusiasm for science are valued (another problem with academia). In September I start on a PGCE course to be a science teacher, and I’m really excited about the challenges ahead and my new career (see next post).

Update:

I’ve had a couple of comments (not via the comments section) suggesting there is more to being shortlisted for lectureships than having a decent research publication record. Whilst this is undoubtedly true, I have always been advised by *the great and good* otherwise. And besides, I do pretty well in this regard anyway; I have extensive public communication projects including working with The BBC, nationalnewspapers, magazines and have done school and pub talks. I also have undergraduate lecturing experience (one lecture/year over last five years) which has excellent student feedback. I have requested further lecturing experience and formal training in my current post but was told this wasn’t available to postdocs, only to lecturers. Yet again a case of needing formal training to get a lectureship but not being able to get a lectureship without the formal training. I would honestly like to be the academic all-rounder with research, teaching and public communication all playing a part of my career. However I am repeatedly told that only my research output will count towards getting a job and thus I have concentrated on this in my professional life, and this post.

Footnotes:

* I do have one suggestion for improving REF. Instead of assessing the output of individual researchers, assess the output of universities and departments. When a researcher moves from one university to another their work should count towards the output of the university where that research was carried out. This would incentivise universities to invest in potential rather than past performance.

** REF gives no credit for collaborative working either, with each publication only being allowed to be credited to one researcher. If two researchers have worked together on a project, only one of them can take credit for it. My idea to tie work to universities rather than individuals would also help with this and wouldn’t discourage academic collaboration within a department/university.

Filed under: Science, Uncategorized Tagged: academia, fellowships, jobs, lecturing, postdocing, research]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/leaving-academia/feed/29drbillyoHaven’t Slept In Several Nights – Best of 2012https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/havent-slept-in-several-nights-best-of-2012/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/havent-slept-in-several-nights-best-of-2012/#respondSat, 15 Dec 2012 23:11:58 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=384]]>Here we are again, the earth is soon to complete another orbit of the sun and return to occupy the same position in the cosmos that it did one year ago. Of course this is not strictly true, rather it is returning to a previous position relative to the sun. ish.

Before we add one to the year bit of the calendar, many will take this opportunity to take stock of the previous 12 months, and many will make lists of their favourite things of the last year. Here’s my favourite music; The 20 standout tracks that sum up the new music I’ve enjoyed this year. Hopefully I’ve curated into something greater than the sum of their parts.

We return to the start of the year and a little catchy hook that was getting plenty of airplay on 6music at the time.

2. Default – Django Django

Another great tune getting lots of 6music airplay at the start of the year. I have to say though, that the album was a bit of a disappointment to me after the strength of this single.

3. Camp Cappuccino – Future of The Left

No such disappointment from Welsh noise-mongers FotL who’s “The Plot Against Common Sense” picked up this year’s 2nd Welsh Music Prize.

4. Sixteen – The Indelicates

First of two selections from my album of the year “American Demo” which I’m very late to the party on since it was released in 2008, but definitely my find of the year. Love this track and how it reminds me of certain friends of mine who are trying desperately not to grow up.

5. I’m Always Going To Love You – Dexys

6. Incapable of Love – Dexys

Speaking of not growing up. Kevin Rowland lays his emotional immaturity on a platter for all to see in the semi-autobiographical semi-concept album “One Day I’m Going To Soar”. This pair of songs see Rowland duet with the actress Madeleine Hyland who gives a fantastic performance that gives these songs a little bit of a musical theater feel, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and it’s certainly not here.

7. Greatest Hits – Mystery Jets

Another break up, and this time the couple in question are divvying up their record collection.

8. We Were Kids – Turtle Giant

Turtle Giant don’t sound like they hail from Brasil, but that’s what their bio says. Can’t remember where I heard this, but it’s a great single and was well worth delving back into their debut album too.

9. Our Daughters Will Never Be Free – The Indelicates

Second Offering from “American Demo” which was The Indelicates debut album.

10. Lillibulero – Bellowhead

The hardest working band in folk returned with their 4th studio album “Broadside”. The intense touring schedule has paid off as this album entered the UK album charts at #16, unprecidented for an independently released folk about. “Broadside” like Bellowhead’s previous albums is largely energetic arrangements of traditional folk songs, and ought to be listened to by anyone who thinks they don’t like folk music.

11. Far From Portland – Lau

Lau are something of a Scottish folk super group and although “Race The Loser” is their third album, I will admit this is the first to cross my radar. More sedate than Bellowhead, but their use of electronic samples certainly gives their original compositions a very contemporary feel.

12. Last Hours Of Being Young – Larcenist

Hailing from Boston, Larcenist describe themselves as perveyors of Doom Folk. Which is a little harsh as while the subject matter may be gloomy, some of the tunes are almost upbeat. This is from their 2011 EP “We Become The Hunted” and I eagerly await their debut album “Eager City Patient Country” which is released on 22nd January.

13. Dresden – The Cornshed Sisters

Absolutely gorgeous 4-part female harmonies from The Tyne.

14. Wisely & Slow – The Staves

You wait a lifetime for a decent female folk harmony from the UK then you get two in a year. 3-part harmonies this time from the Staveley-Taylor sisters. I’m insanely proud of the fact that these girls are from Watford, my hometown, and are a product of what goes for a music scene there.

15. Midnight Blues – Liz Green

Another stunning debut album “O, Devotion!” full of folksy-blues minimalism from Manchester singer-songwriter Liz Green.

16. Conduit – Ben Caplan

17. Southbound – Ben Caplan

Decided to go with two tracks from Ben Caplan’s album “In The Time of The Great Remembering”. Which would be my album of 2012, if it weren’t released at the end of 2011. Great spot and tip-off from Dan after he saw Ben supporting Katzenjammer on tour. Great songwriting, great voice, awesome beard and fantastic name for his backing band; The Casual Smokers.

Hadn’t spotted until very recently that Billy had released “Fight Songs” in 2011 between “Mermaid Avenue” albums with Wilco. It opens with this diatribe at The Sun, which given The Leveson Enquiry and further revelations from Hillsborough released this year, it is a very apt inclusion of this best of 2012.

20. Phrasing – Scott Walker

Fitting anything from Scott Walkers challenging album “Bish Bosch” on to a compilation album was always going to be difficult, so consider this a track included after 2 minutes of silence. I just want to bring this fantastic work to your attention. The track, like the whole album requires your full attention, and then some really strange things will reveal themselves to you. Give it a go.

Anyway – With Christmas very nearly upon us – It’s on the 25th of December in case you needed reminding – I thought I’d put together a little festival playlist to put you in the spirit, as they say. We can now officially get in the spirit since it is (very nearly at least) December. Like many, the creep of Christmas into November and seemingly October and September too pisses me off. There are many reasons it gets my goat, but one of them is that the Christmas songs I loved so much as a child are overplayed on TV adverts and on shop floors, leaving them almost entirely feelingless and in some cases, frankly annoying.

So here is a little playlist of fresh (he said realising one is possible 100 years old) tunes which are largely unsullied by commercialisation, Christmas-creep and the hard sell. Thanks to those on twitter who responded to my call to arms and suggested tunes, I hope I have given you all credit in the liner notes below. I extended my basic rule of no Department Store favourites and extended it to excellent, but infrequently heard, cover versions of Christmas standards, which ruled out such great renditions such as Slow Club’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Macy Gray’s excellent Winter Wonderland and much of any Ella Fitzgerald Christmas album.

Immediately I break my “no standards” rule – but this is almost unrecognisable, and it’s The Fall and they’re worth breaking the rule for. Thanks to @lewispaul64 for the suggestion.

2. RUN-DMC – Christmas In Hollis

Hip Hop and Christmas songs are not comfortable bed fellows. But RUN-DMC manage to include the almost obligatory Christmas Bells with ease. Suggested by @LisaJameson

3. The BellRays – Santa’s Got A Big Old Bag

With elements of Funk and Garage Rock, this is probably just the BellRays jamming to be honest, but they make it seem so effortlessly cool. From A BellRays Christmas, a favourite festive EP of mine for a few years now.

4. Louis Armstrong – ‘Zat You Santa Claus

Like Ella Fitzgerald, although there are numerous albums of Christmas songs by Louis Armstrong, they are largely all standards, this little big band number is largely overlooked by those who choose the corporate Christmas tunes.

5. Ella Fitzgerald – Good Morning Blues

Ella belts out a jazzy number which has scared off the department stores, good – we can have this one to ourselves.

A Bluesy number from Chuck Berry, this has long been an overlooked classic in my opinion. It’s what Christmas eve, mulled wine and open fires were made for.

8. Titus Turner – Christmas Morning

I must confess to knowing little about Titus Turner, but heard this on Bob Dylan’s Christmas Theme Time Radio Hour.

9. Lead Belly – Christmas Is A Comin’

Christmas as told in the Delta Blues. Another introduced to me by Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour

10. Loretta Lynn – To Heck With Old Santa Claus

Think you can do Christmas without Country? You are so wrong. You gotta have some country.

11. Eels – Christmas Is Going To The Dogs

Sounds a little down on Christmas? Or is it just a different perspective?

12. Fountains of Wayne – I Want An Alien For Christmas

Who doesn’t? You heard him Santa! Get on it! Spotters badge to @coldbrain

13. Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler – (Don’t Call Me) Mrs Christmas

Ever give a thought to Mrs Claus while her Husband is off around the world? The standout track from Emmy & Tim’s festive collaboration last year. Tip off from @SteveEustice

14. David Ford – Have Yourself A Bitter Little Christmas

A lovely little ditty, with some pretty dark lyrics. Bit too good to leave off though, despite largely trying to avoid negative Christmas songs. Another spotters badge to @SteveEustice

15. Frightened Rabbit – It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop

Perhaps the subject of David Ford’s song should have taken a leaf from the Scottish Indie Rockers, It’s Christmas, can’t we all just get along? Thanks to @fadeupyoursmile for the excellent tip.

16. Low – Just Like Christmas

Back to something more upbeat and positive. This is the track which comes closest to entering the Department store playlists, indeed it’s fast on its way to becoming one of the Christmas standards, but for now it’s ours.

17. Stevie Wonder – What Christmas Means To Me

Wrapping this compilation up with two songs which pretty much sum up Christmas to me. First Stevie Wonder explains what Christmas means to him.

18. Tim Minchin – White Wine In The Sun

Followed by a Song which entirely sums up my relationship with Christmas… Except the sunshine, natch. Stupid Aussie!

Merry Christmas

Filed under: music, Spotify Tagged: Christmas, compilation tapes, music, Spotify]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/alternative-christmas-playlist/feed/1drbillyoIt's Christmas InnitScience Writing – Times Higher Education – Book Review; The Spark of Lifehttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/science-writing-times-higher-education-book-review-the-spark-of-life/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/science-writing-times-higher-education-book-review-the-spark-of-life/#commentsThu, 30 Aug 2012 09:44:56 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=368]]>Thanks to my earlier re-posting of my WesternMail Articles, I was identified by the lovely people at The Times Higher Education (THE) magazine as someone who a) had a professional interest in ion channels and b) was interested in public communication of science, to review a book on ion channels written for a lay audience.

The book was Frances Ashcroft’s The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body, and you can read my review on the THE website here. In short it’s a bloody awesome book and I had such a great time reading a lay history of a subject I have spent the past 10 years studying professionally. Looking back, a month after writing the review, I do feel a little bad for saying anything negative at all. I think I was a bit worried about appearing sycophantic so dug very deep to find even a minor criticism of her book. Still, hopefully the review comes across as positive and that if you had a vague interest in understanding what I do as a biophysicist hopefully you’ll want to read the book.

Finally, a tip for doing a book review – take some notes as you’re reading, or stick some post-its on key pages. I got so engrossed in the book I did neither and ended up having to buy a kindle version when I wrote the review so I could search for things I’d previously read.

Filed under: Books, Public Communication, Science Tagged: Book Review, Science Writing, The Spark of Life, Times Higher Education]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/science-writing-times-higher-education-book-review-the-spark-of-life/feed/1drbillyoSpark of LifeGeocachinghttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/geocaching/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/geocaching/#commentsThu, 26 Jul 2012 10:44:56 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=356]]>I wanted to write something to get my rant about the behaviour of a professional football club off the top of my blog, especially since they have said that they will attempt to rectify their wrong doing. I also thought I might try something a little unusual for me and write something positive, so I’m going to tell you about a hobby I took up a few months ago – which I am enjoying a lot – Geocaching.

In a nutshell; Geocaching is a GPS-driven treasure hunt game, where people hide containers in the real world, and then players try to find them.

A Cache location I found last weekend

The locations of the caches are listed on the geocaching.com website where you can search for them by distance to a given location. All this information is also available via the geocaching app1 which you can download to your smart phone. Although the game was originally designed (in 2000 when the GPS satellites were made available for everyone to use) for dedicated GPS devices, the fact that GPS-containing smart phones are now so common means that many people will not need to invest in a dedicated GPS device in order to play the game. For this reason I’ll concentrate on explaining the game from the point of view of the smart-phone user2.

Page for a cache on iPhone app

Selecting a local cache you’d like to find on the app, you can look at various maps (street/topographic/satellite) to see where the cache is hidden. There is also a compass feature to so show you how far and in which direction you need to go to reach the cache. There is normally a gentle hint as to the exact location, such as “In tree stump” or “magnetic, on fence post”, but there will be some hunting to be done once you’re at the final location.

The majority of caches are physical containers of various sizes, ranging from thimble sized, through film canisters and sandwich boxes to ammo cases. The larger containers often contain items for trade, these are generally small toys and low value items which make the treasure hunt fun for kids, but I have seen books, DVDs and CDs. The rule for trading is a simple one, and is enforced only by the honesty of finders – only take something if you’re leaving something of equal or greater value. The one constant of each cache (even the tiny thimble caches) is a logbook on which to sign your username to prove you’ve found the cache. Once you’ve found the cache and signed the log book, you log the find on-line (or on the app on the move) so that you can keep track of your finds on the geocaching.com website.

And that essentially, is Geocaching 101. The game has a few more complexities; there are trackable items such as special coins and Travel Bugs which are moved between caches by finders, and their progress can be followed on-line. There are also several different types of caches including Multi-caches that require you to go to 2 or more locations in order to find the final cache, and Puzzle caches which require finders to solve a puzzle in order to find the final cache. The other main type of cache is the Earthcache, which do not have physical containers, but instead require finders to answer a simple question about the geophysical surroundings of a location and is designed as an educational cache to learn more about the geography of an area. The site is well designed with each cache given a star rating for both difficulty of find and the terrain needed to be covered to discover the cache. For example a 1* terrain will be wheelchair accessible from flat tarmac, whilst a 5* terrain may be a long hike up a mountain or even in a cave. But the rating system allows finders to get a feel for what they’re taking on before deciding if they wish to tackle the cache.

The game is a great way to give a goal to a walk (or cycle) in the countryside – in fact many caches are set in nice circular walks in the country and come complete with information on the length and difficulty of the whole route and cache owners usually describe whether a cache is accessible by bikes and pushchairs. However, caches (usually smaller ones) are also found in urban environments too and take finders to, and tell them about buildings and areas that they might have otherwise have overlooked. Whether you play in the town or the country, Geocaching is a great way of using modern technology to get out and about and active. It also seems to appeal to kids, especially the larger caches which are filled with “treasure” to trade after the excitement of finding the hidden container.

Caches placed on a 2-mile circular walk from North Stoke village, on the edge of Bath

What I particularly enjoy about the game is the fact that each time I find a cache I know that it has been placed there by another player of the game for no benefit to themselves other than the satisfaction of giving others something to find. I also like the fact that each find has been replaced by previous finders rather than stealing or moving it to stop the enjoyment of the game for others – a little faith in humanity restored every time3.

The game is staggeringly huge and constantly growing and changing. There are over 1.8 million caches world wide currently, and I’d guess 50,000 at least in the UK. I pretty much guarantee that there’s one within half a mile of where you’re sat right now, wherever you are. So what are you waiting for? Go and take a look, and get Geocaching.

Caches in Bath City Centre – See there’s bloody loads!

1. The app costs £6.99, though is a one-off cost. There is a free intro app, which will display the 3 closest caches to your current location which will give you a good taste for the game, but you’ll soon want the full app if you get into it. Registration on the website is free, though there is a “Premium Member” upgrade in order to get the most out of the site, but at $30 USD per year, this still represents excellent value for money for a hobby that can be played 365 days a year.2. In theory it’s possible to play without any GPS device since GPS co-ordinates can be (and are on the website) converted into OS Map grid references, but my guess is this would make the game a whole lot more difficult.3. Having said that – they do occasionally go missing – but owners usually quickly disable them on the website to avoid others going on wasted journeys and replace them fairly quickly too.Filed under: Fun Stuff, Geocaching Tagged: Cycling, Geocaching, Outdoors, Walking]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/geocaching/feed/1drbillyoWhy wouldn't you want to go here?Geocaching - North Stoke CircularGeocaching - BathSpot the Professional Clubhttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/spot-the-professional-club-34/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/spot-the-professional-club-34/#commentsTue, 17 Jul 2012 20:37:23 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=344]]>This afternoon at 3.28 pm – just a couple of hours after starting the publicity drive that would lead up to the game on Friday – the official Bath City FC twitter feed announced that the Friendly with Crystal Palace was off.

Aaarrrggghhhh! Due to awful weather, Crystal Palace have cut short their pre season tour of South West and THE MATCH ON FRIDAY IS CANCELLED

Upon arrival at our training base in Exeter on Monday we found the facilities unusable due to flooding and with no adequate alternative facilities available we made the decision to return to London.

Having made that decision it was not in the best interests of the squad to travel back down to Bath on Friday evening and we made the unfortunate decision to cancel the friendly because of circumstances beyond our control.

OK, fair enough so far. But the statement continues…

The club are actively looking for an alternative match which will take place on the same date and will be announced in due course.

Woa there! Back up a touch. You’re looking for another game on Friday? So nothing to do with protecting untrained players from injury? Exeter isn’t exactly 5 minutes from Bath, so there was going to be travelling anyway. Basically Palace you’re bored with the M4, oh do fuck off. Get your arses on a coach, it’s a couple of hours down the motorway, come and honour your commitment to play a friendly match against Bath City.

But then, just 200 minutes later at 18:48 the official Palace Twitter account announces that alternative match has magically been arranged in under four hours:

We will take on Lewes at the Dripping Pan on Friday evening in our first pre-season friendly. Kick-off 7.30pm. Details tomorrow morning.

To be fair there appear to be as many Palace fans angry as Bath fans, given that many of them have forked out for train tickets and B&B’s in Bath. But a few Palace fans seem to think my twitter anger was an over-reaction, but they forget that there is a world of difference in the financial situation at the two clubs. While for Palace this is a virtually meaningless training session, for Bath this match against Championship opposition represented a stiff test on the pitch and a decent payday off it. Best part of 1000 heads at £10 a head, plus associated income from the bar. Instead the club turned down other good offers of matches for this weekend and the opportunity to host a function in the bar.

So why have Palace done this? Well, I’ve no direct evidence, but the fact that Palace did pinch highly rated winger Bayan Fenwick from Lewes in March this year for an undisclosed fee doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Perhaps Lewes were threatening a tribunal, perhaps the deal was always supposed to be a friendly match but some idiot forgot to arrange it. Whatever the reason, Palace have behaved like the amateur club in this situation.

So why am I writing this? Well, I just like to get things that piss me off, off my chest. I also know that Bath City are far too professional to publicly complain about Crystal Palace’s behaviour, I on the other hand have no qualms about doing so, so I’d like it on the record in perpetuity that Crystal Palace have acted like a bunch of unprofessional fuckwits.

Update 1:

It would appear that the majority of Palace fans believe that it is the professional thing to do the best by their players (3-hour round trip coach rather than a 5-hour one), and to hell with the effects on little old Bath. Just another symptom of football being pretty much rotten to the core, but perhaps calling Palace unprofessional was a little harsh…

Update 2:

Sounds like Bath City chairman Manda Rigby has been putting the squeeze on Palace today and this statement has been put on ilovebathcity website (official site currently under refurbishment).

…the club has accepted the Eagles sincere apologies for the late withdrawal from Friday’s pre-season friendly and their reasons for doing so. To make up for costly cancellation Palace have agreed to send a strong first team to Mayday Trust Park to face City during the 2012-13 season, and provide possible assistance with loan players during the campaign. With the financial impact of the cancellation mitigated by the actions of Palace, City are now attempting to get the footballing side of pre season back on track, urgently searching for opposition to replace the fixture.

So well done Manda for embarrassing Palace into this. We wait with baited breath to see if such a match will actually take place (we did have their word they’d turn up this Friday, after all), and how strong the team would be. I doubt such a mid-season friendly will attract as many fans; but still, credit where credit’s due for recognising their wrong-doing and saying they’ll put it right. Perhaps they’re not fuckwits after all.

Filed under: Bath City, Football, Fuckwittery, Non-League, Sport Tagged: Bath City, Crystal Palace, Football, Fuckwittery]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/spot-the-professional-club-34/feed/2drbillyoIn Defence of The Olympic Gameshttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/in-defence-of-the-olympic-games/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/in-defence-of-the-olympic-games/#commentsFri, 13 Jul 2012 10:45:33 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=253]]>Maybe it’s just my twitter feed, filled as it is with skeptics and academics for whom sport — the opiate of masses — is of little interest to them. On the other hand, maybe the national pastimes of rampant pessimism and celebration of failure are just getting out of hand. Whatever the reason, I’m getting a little bit pissed off the constant knocking of the Olympics and LOCOG. I for one — though I’m sure I’m not alone — am really looking forward to the games; a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to host the greatest sporting festival in the world.

This week we have had several minor twitter storms over the Olympics, caused by musicians not being paid, chip-gate, the lack of a British real-ale for sale and the email sent to ticket holders outlining the horrific entrance rules which outlaw the taking of weapons, banners and large hats into the Olympic park. First up, the unpaid musicians; It’s a bit shitty, but I’d like to point out that the organisers are hardly holding a gun to the head of those musicians and making them play, those musicians, just like every punter are free to say, “Do you know what? These terms and conditions suck, I’m outta here.”

As for the entrance conditions, well these seem pretty sensible to me. Taking a large hat into the Olympic venue is a pretty inconsiderate thing to do given that no-one behind you will be able to see anything. Similarly the restrictions on what you can eat and drink inside the Olympic venues are no different to those at any Premier League football match or Cricket Test Match. You’re paying for a ticket to watch sport, not take an afternoon 15-course taster menu at The Ivy. Just like at any other sporting event, you will be able to accompany your sporting entertainment with a shitty selection of burgers, fizzy pop and pissy lager, and if you don’t like that you can take some sandwiches.

“But why couldn’t we ask an ethical, organic health food company to provide the food and drink for the games?” Well, because such a company doesn’t exist; certainly not a multi-national with the funds to match the usual corporate giants. Again, you do know you don’t have to do what advertisers tell you, right?

Then there are security issues. Sure the missiles on tower blocks are over-the-top. But, so too are nuclear-warheads in submarines, but that doesn’t mean that the deterrent arguments for Trident or Fred Wigg tower are invalid. And besides, all this appears to have been driven by the government rather than LOCOG. Similarly, the G4S security guards — a situation easily predicted by any Private Eye reader — whilst an undoubted fuck up, has been sorted by LOCOG’s contingency plan to have 3000 military personnel on standby. Why aren’t they being praised for having good contingency plans? Well, because the real issue here is money.

Money – the source of many an argument. There is no doubt that the Olympics are costing a lot of money. Surely therefore, every million spent by the corporates is a million saved for the taxpayer? Exactly how much public money spent will probably never be known, but it’s likely to be upwards of £10bn. This will be difficult to add up properly because there are grey areas in spending such as security (are government or LOCOG paying for those missiles and fighter jets?), and investments in infrastructure and transport, which will last long after the games and were probably a good idea anyway. Whatever the true figure, it’s a lot of money, especially in the current economic climate, but few people were predicting the current economic crisis in 2005 when the games were awarded, let alone in 2003 when the bid was submitted.

Don’t forget, of course, that the public balance sheet will have increased revenue generated by the games, though the increases in VAT receipts, tourist spend and general good-will towards the UK will be even harder to calculate than the cost of the games. I’m under no illusion though; we’ll still be running at a loss. But so what?

The Olympics are worth the money to enrich our lives with this sporting festival. I’ve no doubt there are plenty of people who disagree, they’re not sports fans. That’s perfectly ok, but the Olympics aren’t really for them. They’re for me and the millions of other sports fans in the country. I’m no fan of opera or experimental dance, but does that mean I think that we shouldn’t fund the arts council who fund much of these projects? No, because I recognise the cultural importance of a diverse society where the interests of people other than myself are met and funded by public purse. Just to put the money spent on The Olympics into perspective; despite severe cuts The Arts Council England have a £1.04bn budget for the next 3 years. Hosting an Olympic Games is not something that occurs everyday — The UK last hosted the games in 1948 — so we’re unlikely to host it again in most of our lifetimes, so we’ll have matched funding (and more)* for the arts by the time it comes around again.

In the meantime, relax, grab a Real Ale and healthy snack, sit back and watch the incredible sporting prowess on show, because that ultimately is what the Olympic Games is about.

* Yes, yes, I know sports funding will continue, etc. I just wanted to highlight that fact that quite a lot of money is spent on stuff that I’ll get no personal enjoyment from.

Filed under: Politics, Public Transport Tagged: Olympics, Politics, Public Transport, Sport]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/in-defence-of-the-olympic-games/feed/7drbillyoScience Writing – Western Mail – Blowing Smokehttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/science-writing-western-mail-blowing-smoke/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/science-writing-western-mail-blowing-smoke/#commentsTue, 03 Apr 2012 21:02:52 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=247]]>After writing a first column for the Western Mail as part of the Welsh Crucible, I was given an opportunity to write a second article. I’ve learnt you should never turn up these types of opportunities so I quickly wrote another column, this time on the potential of carbon monoxide as a medicine and the origin of the pharse “Go blow smoke up your arse”. This column appeared in print and online yesterday. Thankfully this time without my hungover head shot.

To the column:

Following its import from the Americas in the 16th century, tobacco was considered a useful medicine. Physicians and religious leaders since the ancients had believed in the healing power of smoke from various aromatics such as incense. The belief in the healing power of tobacco smoke was an evolution of this superstition. It may surprise you that 17th century physicians administered tobacco smoke not only via the lungs, but also via the rectum in the form of a tobacco smoke enema which is apparently the origin of the phrase “go blow smoke up your arse”*.

A tobacco smoke enema was “prescribed” for a wide range of ailments, including drowning! The practice reached its zenith in the 18th century, but continued well into the 19th century due to success in treatment of gut problems. However, the discovery that nicotine, the active ingredient in tobacco was poisonous to the heart led to the decline in the technique. However we now understand that a different poison in the smoke, carbon monoxide, may have been responsible for the beneficial effects.

The immediate association of carbon monoxide as a poison is an accurate one. Carbon monoxide is released by poorly fitted boilers, as well as being a major constituent of cigarette smoke and car exhausts. 50 people in the UK die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, so having a carbon monoxide detector fitted in your house is a good idea.

However, it is less well known that carbon monoxide is also produced in tiny amounts naturally in the body. It is made by enzymes breaking down the red haem molecule (found in haemoglobin in red blood cells) into green biliverdin and yellow bilirubin molecules. You can see this process take place when a red bruise turns a mixture of green and yellow before healing completely.

For many years carbon monoxide was considered a waste product, which served no purpose in the body. But we now know that naturally produced carbon monoxide has important effects in the body. My research is concerned with identifying some of the proteins affected by carbon monoxide and in particular how it affects ion channels. Ion channels are the proteins responsible for the electrical activity in cells such as neurons, but they are also found in the gut. In many models of disease carbon monoxide production appears to be beneficial and this has led to idea that carbon monoxide may be a potential medicine in the future, and may explain the benefits observed from 17th century tobacco smoke enemas.

Like much of the research undertaken in the Cardiff University School of Biosciences, this work aims to understand the fine details of how our bodies function and the microscopic details of diseases, rather than directly testing new treatments for use in patients. By better understanding how our bodies work, we will be in a stronger position to design new drugs and treatments in the future.

* The latter half of this sentence was cut from both the print and online versions of this article – which is a bit of a shame.

Do not, and I repeat, do not google image search "tobacco smoke enema" with your safe search off. You have been warned.

Filed under: Public Communication, Science Tagged: 17th century medicine, carbon monoxide, ion channels, medicine, newspaper, nicotine, tobacco smoke, tobacco smoke enema, welsh crucible, western mail]]>https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/science-writing-western-mail-blowing-smoke/feed/2drbillyo17th Century Apparatus for Tobacco Smoke EnemaScience Writing – Western Mail – In It For The Long Haulhttps://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/science-writing-western-mail-in-it-for-the-long-haul/
https://drbillyo.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/science-writing-western-mail-in-it-for-the-long-haul/#commentsTue, 03 Apr 2012 20:46:17 +0000http://drbillyo.wordpress.com/?p=242]]>As a member of the 2011 Welsh Crucible I was given the fantastic opportunity to write a column for the Western Mail, a national tabloid in Wales, outlining some of my research. Below is my first column which appeared in print & online on Monday October 3rd 2011. The print version also contained an alarmingly large head shot (see picture), taken when I was a bit hungover on one morning of the Welsh Crucible programme. A new collaboration arising from the Welsh Crucible was an idea to write about scientists and their lives working in science. Writing about Geoff Burnstock for this article inspired us to interview Geoff about his career for the new Life In Science blog, which hopefully we’ll get around to a new post soon.

To the article:

Basic biomedical research, which I and many of my colleagues undertake in the School of Biosciences, is an important part of the process of improving human health and the treatment of diseases. On the whole, we do not directly test treatments on patients rather we investigate the microscopic details of the causes of disease, in order that more effective treatments can be designed by clinical researchers and pharmaceutical industries in the future.

My current interest is in understanding how the pancreas works. I am currently working alongside Professor Ole Petersen who was recently appointed the director of the School, and is a world-leader in the field of pancreatic research. Together, we are investigating which members of the purine family of receptors — which bind a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — are involved in the secretion of digestive enzymes by the pancreas and how these receptors change in early childhood as the pancreas matures. We hope that by understanding the development of the pancreas in early life we might have some clues as to how to assist the pancreas to repair itself in adults suffering from diseases such as alcoholic pancreatitis.

The potential impact of work such as mine is great, but the real effects on human health may be years in the future. One reason for this is that the purine family of receptors are only relatively recently discovered. We have only known about the existence of purine receptors for around the last 30 years or so; a seemingly long time perhaps, but a short time in the history of medicine. The future of this family of receptors as targets for drugs is bright as they appear to play important roles all over the body; however, these receptors have a rocky past.

Purine receptors bind ATP and chemically similar compounds. You may recall ATP from your school biology lessons since it is made by every cell in the body and is the energy source for most cell functions. In the early 1970s a British Scientist working in Australia by the name of Geoff Burnstock proposed that ATP was also released by cells to send messages to other cells. Burnstock worked hard during the 70s to prove his theory, but he was treated as a scientific heretic, with many researchers thinking it unlikely that such a common molecule with an important role providing cellular energy would be released and found outside cells.

By the end of the 70s Burnstock was proved correct, and there are now 100s of researchers around the world researching the importance of purine receptors in a variety of diseases. In November this year four purine researchers from Cardiff including myself are hosting a meeting of the UK Purine Club, where around 100 UK researchers, including Geoff Burnstock, will present their latest research and discuss ideas for future research. This meeting is important for our research and is fantastic showcase for Wales; we will use the hotel and conference facilities available in Cardiff and show off our fantastic City to researchers from across the UK.